Hi
I want to know where Jesus said that we should pray to Mary or ask her to forgive our sins?
The Bible does not record Jesus saying to do either of these things. Some Protestants feel strongly that we should not pray to anyone except God. Catholic prayers to the saints are to ask for assistance, not to treat them as God or ask them to forgive our sins. As far as I know, Protestants and other Christian churches that object to asking heavenly assistance from anyone except God do not object to our asking assistance from other people while they are still alive on Earth, only after they have gone to heaven.
By “worship,” do you mean the Merriam-Webster definition, “to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power”? If you mean something else, please tell us what you mean so we will be addressing the subject of your post. Asking for forgiveness of sins would be asking something that God alone can give except as He delegated to the apostles, which is recorded in the Gospels. Asking for assistance does not mean treating someone as God.
Thank you.
Hi Quantum,
I would like to ask you where you got this information. Catholic Christians do not ask Mary to forgive our sins.
Jesus Christ forgives sins (1 John 1:9) and He gave the Apostles and their successors the authority to forgive sins in His name (John 20:22-23).
If you are referring to the Rosary, it is a Prayer yes, but also a reflecting upon the Gospels. I posted the Biblical references of the Rosary here.
Hope this helps : )
Ok if that is the case then why are there statues of Mary inside Catholic churches?
By any chance do you have a photo album (either on your phone or on your bookshelf) with photographs of friends and family? When you enter a Catholic/Orthodox Church, you will see images of individuals who are members of God’s family.
The Church my Wife and I were Married in had a beautiful mural depicting the story of Salvation History and each side window honored a particular saint who lived a life of virtue & grace. Our Current Church has beautiful stained glass window illustrating Christ’s life, Passion, and Resurrection! Many of our Churches, Catholic & Orthodox, are like walking into the pages of the Bible.
We honor those who lived holy lives and who inspire us to do the same, so you might see stained glass or statues of holy men and women who lived this faith in Christ long before we were born. And we ask those who share in our relationship with Christ (either still alive or who have passed from this life) to Pray for us on our own journey of faith in Christ Jesus. Does this make sense?
We do not believe that when a Christian dies, that they are separated from Christ’s mystical body, but more alive than we are on earth. And they are cheering us on in this race we call life : )
Do Catholics pray to the dead?
Catholics do not worship Mary as God but honor her and ask for her intercession (praying with her, not just to her). Believing she is the Mother of God and in heaven, Catholics ask her to pray for them, similar to asking a friend on earth to pray for them, but with higher spiritual confidence.This also applies to the Saints.
The Hail Mary
Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb “Jesus”
Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen
Jesus is the center of the prayer
Jesus declares that God is “not the God of the dead, but of the living” (see Matthew 22:31-32, Mark 12:27 & Luke 20:38).
We ask those who are alive in Christ to Pray for us. We condemn necromancy (see Leviticus 19:31, Deuteronomy 18:10-12) and CCC 2116.
Does God want us to Pray for one another? Yes (see Ephesians 6:18, 1:15-16, Romans 15:30 & Philippians 1:3-4.
The book of Revelation depicts the saints worshipping God, singing hymns, playing instruments, making requests to Christ, and offering Prayers for the saints on Earth (Revelation 4-6). Does this sound like something that “dead people” do? We Pray to the living, not in place of Jesus, but with one another in Jesus.
Hope this helps you better understand what Catholic/Orthodox Christians truly believe.
So then why do you identify as a Catholic?
The other question is, why is the Pope seen as the head of the church?
The word catholic means “universal.” When Jesus established the Church in the Apostles and their successors, it was one, holy, universal, and apostolic Church and her teachings are orthodox, meaning “correct.”
The Early Church Councils addressed various heresies that were popping up, which is where we get the Nicene Creed. They were affirming what Jesus, the Apostles, and their successors taught and clarifying these teachings against some of the false teachings being taught by the Arians and other heretical groups.
Jesus is the head of the church, referring to the mystical body of Christ (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:23 & CCC 789)!
The Bishop of Rome (the papas) is the successor of St. Peter. St. Peter was martyred in Rome, Italy around 64-68 AD. His successor was St. Linus (Bishop of Rome from 67-76 AD). Here is a list of successors to St. Peter.
If you read Isaiah 22:22, you see a Prime Minister receiving “the keys” under a king, symbolizing stewardship & authority. If you read Matthew 16:19, you see Christ The King promising “the keys” to St. Peter.
Jesus breathed on the Apostles and their successors a certain authority & responsibility to loosen & to bind on earth (verse 19 and in chapter 18). They have the serious responsibility of protecting that which has been passed on to them (2 Thessalonians 2:14-3:1). We call these teachings The Deposit of Faith.
The further you get from the authority of the Apostolic Faith, the less you believe as the Early Christians believed and taught.
If not for this Catholic/Orthodox Church, we would not have The Bible. What do I mean by this? The Apostolic Fathers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote the New Testament, and preserved the Old Testament Scriptures as well.
The canon of The Holy Bible was affirmed by the Council of Rome (382 AD), the Synod of Hippo (393 AD), the Councils of Carthage (397 AD & 419 AD), the Council of Florence (1431-1449 AD) and finally, as an article of faith, by the Council of Trent (1545-1563 AD).
It was a Catholic Bishop who gave The Bible chapters & verses. The early manuscripts of The Bible did not have chapters, nor verses, nor punctuation.
Protestant Bibles have the same New Testament as Catholic/Orthodox Bibles. However, in the Old Testament, Protestants have less books. They have the same books as the Jews that came after the time of Christ, whereas Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include the Septuagint, that many of the Jews in Jesus’ time were familiar with. The Septuagint is quoted in the New Testament around 300 times!
So what is my point? We were not originally called “The Catholic Church” and the Church of the East was not originally called “The Orthodox Church.” We were just “The Christian Church,” one, universal, orthodox & Apostolic, Church. Then the East and the West split apart. If you ask the Orthodox, they would say that we split from them and if you ask Catholic Christians, they would say that they split from us. I prefer to acknowledge that there was indeed a split, but that we both have valid Apostolic succession, valid Sacraments, and a shared family history (sometimes good and sometimes not so good).
Then Protestants broke off from ancient Christianity, and then from one another. And now there are many, many, many, many different denominations that have broken themselves off from the Apostolic Faith and all teach things contrary to what Jesus and the Apostolic Fathers taught. And virtually all of modern Christianity claims The Bible as their authority, but do not agree on what the Bible teaches when it comes to matters of faith & morals.
Take Mark 16:16 for example. Cornelius à Lapide (1637 AD) observed how Lutherans “abuse” this verse to prove that faith 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒 is sufficient to Salvation. Anabaptists, pervert the verse to prove that they should not Baptize their children. Calvinists twist its meaning to prove that Baptism is unnecessary at all!
Catholic Christians view the Bible as authoritative indeed, and also recognizes that Christ did not come to publish a self-help book, but rather is The Word incarnate! And we also recognize that our Lord gave the Apostles and their successors authority on Earth to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to Baptize believers and their households into Christ’s body, to settle disputes that may arise within the body, to share in the Holy Eucharist, and to correct those who teach error (among other things).
Have there been bad Bishops? Yes. Even the Apostles, whom Christ chose from the very beginning, were imperfect. They argued. They sinned. They experienced fear and doubt. And yet, Christ called them to feed His flock.
Does the Vatican donate some of its wealth to poor people and charitable causes?
Yes they do donate and support charities.
And the massive amount of wealth created by the Vatican was through indulgences.
The Vatican needs to repent of this.
Due to the severe abuses and the Protestant Reformation, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) addressed the issue, and in 1567, Pope Pius V prohibited any financial transactions in connection with indulgences.
But the Vatican is still a wealthy orginization?
It also covers up child sex abuse cases.
The wealthiest Church in the world is the Church of latter-day Saints.Sexual abuse has been documented across various denominations globally not just Catholic.
Quantum1982, to return to the topic of your post, you haven’t answered the question of how you define worship. Please do answer. Since that post, you have leaped from one accusation to another with no indication of your sources of information. The Vatican’s wealth was created through sale of indulgences? Well, then, how much money was involved, and what happened to it in the past 500+ years? Please go back and add numbers, dates, and sources to the accusations you have made so far, and then maybe we will have something to discuss.
Ok
Are you familiar with Martin Luther’s 95 thesis?
I know of them, I read a book about Luther, but familiar? Could I name all 95? Or even a few? No. If you want to discuss them, maybe you should start a new post and quote the ones you want to talk about. I’m pretty sure that none of them said a word about Mary or alleged worship of her, which was the title of your post. As I recall, they were nearly all about indulgences, purgatory, and forgiveness of sins. Also, please keep in mind that they were theses, intended for debate. For example, he claimed that at the time the pope’s riches were “greater than the riches of the richest” and that the pope did not need the pennies of the poor. I could not debate this because I have no idea what the pope’s wealth was in the 1500s or whether it came from the pennies of the poor. To me, Luther’s statement implies that the pope had plenty of money aside from donations by the poor, not because of them. But if you have facts indicating that “the massive amount of wealth created by the Vatican was through indulgences,” as you said, then, again, this is not what your post was about, so I recommend starting a new one about Luther’s 95 theses, and you can feel free to quote what I said here.
Ok
Do you believe the final Pope could be the false prophet mentioned in Revelation?